The new buzzword in the international economy is BRIC, an acronym from the first letter of four countries in different corners of the world; Brazil, Russia, India and China. Why in international economics is it all about these four? Because they are the most swiftly developing local economies in the world. The common factor is that they have all for years been showing growth in double figures, and for the foreseeable future there seems no stopping them. Of course, a closer look at the four reveals some differences between them as well. And the differences become even more striking when you look at these economies through geomatics glasses.
Let’s start with Brazil and Russia, the B and R in the acronym. In many aspects two totally different countries, but with a lot of similarities as well. Both have an economic structure laid down years ago and heavily dependent on agriculture and industry. And for both countries its language, respectively Portuguese and Russian, creates something of a barrier between it and the rest of world. Latin America, including Brazil, has developed its own economy, independent for a great part from the United States and Europe, excepting the Iberian Peninsula. Russia was secluded from the western world for decades by the Iron Curtain. Now both Brazil and Russia are more open it looks as if international manufacturers in our field are finding an easy way into new distributor- and dealerships. These countries need (geomatics) products from other parts of the world to provide support for immense geo-referenced data consumption underpinning the development of large infrastructure and other projects. Entire surface areas are being covered in tarmac, houses, offices etc. Local and even regional economies are gaining world significance through their sheer vast size.
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